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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Over five decades
after its inception, the massive tractor manufacturing unit of the Hindustan
Machine Tools (HMT), a PSU located on the outskirts of Chandigarh, in Pinjore,
in Haryana, is likely to shut down its operations.

It was the first HMT unit to be established away from its Bengaluru factory way
back in 1964. A communique from Union Heavy Industries Minister Anant G Geete
to the state government has asked Haryana to take over the entire land of the
unit.

This would come in lieu of settling dues of voluntary retirement of its
employees and for dealing with other outstanding liabilities.

The ministry’s response follows a communication by the state government, which
had asked the ministry to transfer surplus land of the unit to the state for
creation of another industrial estate.

Now, in the wake of a different, perhaps, unexpected response from the Centre,
the state government is viewing the matter afresh. But the decision to shut
down the unit may not be easy, given its political ramifications and the effect
it will have on the 1,800 employees.

It is also being met with stiff resistance from politicians, including those of
the ruling party who are against any such decision to shut down the plant, even
as the ministry has said it could consider attractive compensations for the
workers, before the unit is shut.

HMT has been in the red for several years now, and from a high production of
nearly 19,000 tractors at one time in 1999, the production currently has
dropped to about 10 per cent of its optimum high production.

HMT fell flat to competition and poor strategies. Around 12 years ago, the
Centre had approved Rs 1,083 crore for its revival, but to no avail. The
situation was so bad that nearly 1,500 employees were not paid salaries for 14
months until October.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Online marketplace Snapdeal, backed by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp and others,
will spend more on logistics and technology to better compete with Flipkart and
Amazon's Indian unit, its co-founder said recently.

Shopping
online is becoming more popular in India due to the rising use of cheaper
smartphones and e-commerce firms are struggling to cope with the growing demand
and make faster deliveries in different parts of the country.

The
e-commerce market in India is expected to grow to $220 billion in the value of
goods sold by 2025, up from an expected $11 billion this year, Bank of America
Merrill Lynch said in a recent report.

Flush with
$500 million from a funding round in August, led by China's Alibaba, SoftBank
and Foxconn , Snapdeal is now looking to expand its services.

One area
Snapdeal will focus on is to cut delivery times by investing in better data
analytics and demand forecasting, co-founder Rohit Bansal told the media.

"We
have done over 10 acquisitions and investments in the last one year, almost all
of them in the field of technology or supply chain and payments," he said.
"With all these investments we have been able to reduce our delivery times
by 70 per cent in the last one year."

Quick and
cheap delivery is important to be able to win over customers in a competitive
industry in which companies are burning through substantial cash to grow.

Snapdeal,
which had $4.5 billion in Gross Merchandise Volumes (GMV), a measure of value
of goods and services sold, by August, bought mobile wallet company FreeCharge
in April for around $400 million.

It has also
spent around $35 million to buy about 50 per cent stake in logistics services
company GoJavas.

Bansal said
that Snapdeal had received interest in part of its stake in FreeCharge to raise
funds for the mobile wallet company, but declined to comment further.

"Our
view is that in five years from today 10 percent of India's consumption will
happen online, not just products, but all consumption, and we want to build a
technology ecosystem for that," Bansal said.

Reliance
Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) has set a target of reaching 100 million users in the
first year of its launch, an ambitious one as considering the total 3G
subscribers in India is at about 93 million.

Moreover,
the 3G subscribers were garnered over a period of five years, following the
2010 spectrum auction, even though it took another 2-3 years for a complete
rollout. The total 3G penetration stands at just 9 per cent of the total mobile
subscriber base of 981 million, according to a recent study by brokerage firm
CLSA.

“Today,
nobody believes Jio will have 100 million customers in our first year. But we
will accomplish it because we believe so,” Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)
Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said, answering an employee’s
question during the launch of the company’s 4G services in Navi Mumbai.

On
Sunday, RJIL, a subsidiary of RIL, has launched its 4G and digital services at
a gala event attended by nearly 35,000 Reliance Group employees and their
families. The event was also like webcast across 1,100 locations simultaneously
over RJIL network, enabling a total of 1.5 lakh employees logging on.

“With
the employee launch, we will bring in lakhs of people on to the Jio network,”
Ambani said.

With
the launch of the services, RJIL intends to put India among the top 10
countries in terms of internet and mobile broadband penetration in the “next
few years”, he said, adding at present, India ranks about 150 among the 230
countries. “Jio is conceived to change this,” he added.

Stating
that India has the youngest population in the world, Ambani said that RJIL
intends to tap the opportunity to transform the lives of 1.3 billion Indians.

“The world is at the beginning of a digital
revolution. Anything and everything that can go digital is going digital at an
exponential rate, faster than what you and I can imagine. Whether it’s
entertainment, commerce, healthcare, education, governance, life is going
digital,” Ambani said as the reasons for the group’s foray into the digital arena.

“Through
the ages, information and knowledge have driven humanities’ progress. Life
itself has relied on information to progress. Our genetic code, our DNA, the
basis of our evolution is nothing but information,” he added.

Reliance
Jio’s service will include video streaming, music streaming, money payments and
video calling.

India became the largest
remittances receiving country at US$72 billion this year followed by China at
US$64 billion, the World Bank said in a report.

The US emerged as the largest remittance source
country with an estimated US$56 billion in outward flows in 2014.

"India was the largest remittance receiving
country, with an estimated US$72 billion in 2015, followed by China (US$64
billion), and the Philippines (US$30 billion)," the World Bank said in a
report.

In outward flow, the US was followed by Saudi
Arabia (US$37 billion), and Russia (US$33 billion) in 2014, the Bank said in
the report.

Noting that the number of international migrants
is expected to surpass 250 million this year, an all-time high, as people
search for economic opportunity, the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016
said the fast growing developing countries have increasingly become a strong
magnet for people from other parts of the developing world.

International migrants will send US$601 billion to
their families in their home countries this year, with developing countries
receiving US$441 billion, the report produced by the World Bank Group's Global
Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) initiative said.

"At more than three times the size of
development aid, international migrants' remittances provide a lifeline for
millions of households in developing countries. In addition, migrants hold more
than US$500 billion in annual savings," it said.

"Together, remittances and migrant savings
offer a substantial source of financing for development projects that can
improve lives and livelihoods in developing countries," said Dilip Ratha,
co-author of the Factbook.

Mexico-US was the largest migration corridor in
the world, accounting for 13 million migrants in 2013.

Russia-Ukraine was the second largest, followed by
Bangladesh-India, and Ukraine-Russia.

"There is ample research to demonstrate that
migration, both of highly-skilled and low skilled workers, generates numerous
benefits for receiving and sending countries. The diaspora of developing
countries and return migration can be a source of capital, trade, investment,
knowledge, and technology transfers," said Sonia Plaza, co-author of the
Factbook.

India, with a projected annual
growth rate of 7 per cent, has the potential to be the world's fastest growing
economy over the coming decade, surging ahead of its South Asian economic rival
China that will continue to see a slowdown, Harvard researchers said in new
forecast.

"India has the potential to be the fastest
growing economy over the coming decade... India tops the global list for
predicted annual growth rate for the coming decade, at 7.0 per cent," new
growth projections presented by researchers at the Centre for International
Development (CID) at Harvard University showed.

"This far outpaces projections for its
northern neighbour and economic rival, China, which the researchers expect to
face a continued slowdown to 4.3 per cent growth annually to 2024, the report
said.

South Asia and East Africa have the greatest
potential for "rapid growth" as oil economies and other commodity-driven
economies face the slowest growth outlook, it said.

"India has made important gains in productive
capabilities, allowing it to diversify its exports into more complex products,
including pharmaceuticals, vehicles, even electronics," said Ricardo
Hausmann, Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at Harvard Kennedy
School and CID director. Hausmann noted these gains in economic complexity have
historically translated into higher incomes.

"China has already realised many of these gains,
doubling per capita income in less than a decade. We expect that India's recent
gains in complexity, coupled with its ability to continue improving it will
drive higher incomes, positioning India to lead global economic growth over the
coming decade," he said.

The CID data predicted that growth in emerging
markets will continue to outpace that of advanced economies, though the gap is
closing. CID is also bullish on East Africa, with Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya
ranking in the top 10, with all predicted to grow at least 5.5 per cent
annually.

The growth forecast also looks favourably on
Southeast Asia, where the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam look to
drive growth well above global averages. Growth in advanced economies
remains slow by comparison, though it has risen slightly in the projections in
recent years.

The US is expected to grow at 2.8 per cent
annually to 2024, with higher growth predicted in the United Kingdom (3.2 per
cent) and Spain (3.4 per cent), and slower growth in Italy (1.8 per cent) and
Germany (0.35 per cent).

The United Nations has also predicted that India
will continue to be the fastest growing economy in the world in 2016 and
2017, projected to grow by 7.3 per cent next year and 7.5 per cent the
year after amid a global order that will see persistent macroeconomic
uncertainties, diminished trade flows and stagnant investment.

Making it a year of startups,
Indian and foreign investors have pumped in a whopping $8.4 billion in new
ventures including eCommerce platforms in 2015 through close to 1,000 deals,
even as questions have begun to be asked about their hefty valuations.

Those opening the purse for Indian startups
included industry titans like Ratan Tata and N R Narayana Murthy as also
marquee global investors like Alibaba and Softbank.

According to data compiled by domestic technology
and startup blog trak.in, as many as 936 deals worth over $8.4 billion have
been inked this year — up from 304 deals worth $5 billion that took place in
2014.

The industry is looking at a promising 2016,
though experts and even the investors anticipate correction on the valuation
side. The sectors to watch out for include financial technology, healthcare and
enterprise technology, among others.

Also, the focus might shift a bit away from
eCommerce companies towards some new areas, including agriculture.

This year, the eCommerce sector, led by
e-retailers like Flipkart and Snapdeal, and the taxi-hailing app Ola, dominated
the startup investments space.

Many of these firms commanded very high
valuations, with marquee investors like Softbank and Alibaba, among others,
doling out top dollar.

“The technology and eCommerce sectors have been in
the limelight in 2015, and our country is the fastest-growing startup ecosystem
in the world, right now,” Indian Angel Network (IAN) president Padmaja Ruparel
said.

“Eleven of the 68 ‘unicorns’ globally, (companies
that are valued at over $1 billion) are of Indian origin,” she added.

However, a debate has begun over the high
valuations at which many companies have received funding.

Tata, who himself has personal investments in more
than a dozen startups, took a dig earlier this year at the fledgling sector,
saying “valuations” and not “evaluations” are driving the play.

Pai also believes that only about 10 per cent of
the startups will succeed over the next few years, and about 25 per cent will
stay afloat, while the rest are bound to fail, leading to consolidation.

Ruparel pointed out that following the meteoric
rise in the first half of 2015, valuations have become more grounded in the
second half, and investors are also more keen to find out the business
parameters before backing a company.

The Andhra Pradesh government
today said Microsoft India will be setting up a Centre of Excellence in
Visakhapatnam as part of its digital inclusion drive in the state, besides
sharpening focus on raising productivity.
The technology giant signed an MoU with the Andhra
Pradesh government in deployment and use of information and communications
technologies to offer better citizen services in the state, an official release
said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu
hosted a breakfast meeting for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella -- who is currently
on a visit to Hyderabad -- at his residence today.

The meeting lasted for 80 minutes, during which
Nadella assured the state government of total cooperation in utilisation of
cloud data for improving citizen services.

"He (Nadella) has also agreed to set up a
Centre for Excellence in Visakhapatnam. He promised to visit Anantapur district
during his next visit," the statement said.

According to the MoU, the state government will
use technical knowledge from Microsoft India, which will support building of up
to three proof-of-concept (POC) solutions to apply Microsoft Azure Machine
Learning and Advanced Visualisation in education, agriculture and e-citizen
services, an official release said.

"These POC solutions will be built and
deployed to address specific problems within each of the fields to achieve
better outcome for the state. It would use the lab method for data gathering,
analysis, predictive analysis and policy planning."

Reaffirming its commitment to supporting the
government's initiatives for cloud adoption and improving citizen services,
Microsoft India said it will continue to engage and train the government's key
IT executives on Microsoft technologies such as Cloud, Mobility and appropriate
Microsoft Technology stack.

The company will also deliver an exclusive
workshop to the government's key administrative officers on improving
productivity by using Microsoft technologies, it added.

India's pharma sector is likely
to grow over three-fold to hit US$55 billion in the next five years, even as
the exports from the sector may slow down to grow at a CAGR of 7.98 per
cent owing to stricter regulations in markets such as the US, Russia and
Africa, says a report.

"Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected
to touch US$55 billion by 2020 as against the current size of US$18 billion but
the exports may slow down to grow at a CAGR of 7.98 per cent in value terms due
to tightening of regulatory mechanism in top exports markets of US, Russia and
Africa," a joint report by Assocham and TechSci Research reveals.

Consolidation of pharmacy players in North America
has resulted in the presence of leading firms that hold better bargaining
power, it added.

The study report cited instances like the
acquisition of the US distributor Celesio by US pharmacy Mckesson's in 2014,
and formation of a joint venture between the US wholesale distributor Cardinal
Health and CVS Caremark in 2013.

"Consolidation of pharmacy players is leading
to an increase in pricing pressures for generic companies existing in the US
market, which is expected to result in a decline in the year-on-year growth of pharmaceutical
exports from India over the next five years," it added.

"A steep decline in currency in emerging
markets such Africa, Russia, Ukraine and Venezuela may add to woes of drug
manufacturers that supply pharmaceutical drugs to that region and are unable to
generate high revenues on account of selling their drugs at a low priced
currency," the report said.

India is the largest supplier of medicine to the
US and pharmaceutical exports from India rose from US $3.44 billion in 2013 to
US$3.76 billion in 2014.

"Pharmaceutical exports to the US are rising
due to the increasing demand for high quality generic drugs in the market.
However, the growth rate for exports of pharmaceutical products from India to
the US is declining, due to increasing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
scrutiny on the quality of pharma products coming from drug manufacturing
plants located in India.

"In order to boost the growth rate of exports
to the US, Indian companies will need to leverage their compliance to US FDA regulations,"
it added.

The report further said the exchange rate issue in
the country is affecting the pharmaceuticals market in Russia.

"For example, Dr. Reddy's pharma revenues in
Russia dropped 9 per cent in dollar terms despite a rise of 30 per cent in
Rubles. Hence, stabilisation of the currency is of utmost importance in
generating revenues through exports," according to the report.

In addition, many Indian companies are operating
through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Program (PBP) and hospital tenders, for
supplying vital and essential drugs, for which prices are then regulated by the
Russian government, it said.

Besides, exports of pharmaceutical products to
Africa are being affected due to port delays and prolonged custom valuation,
testing and certification requirements and the cost of returning consignments
to India is huge and registration process for any generic pharmaceutical drug
is time consuming, says the report.

Monday, December 28, 2015

India's second-largest IT company Infosys would formally
inaugurate its campus at Pocharam here in February, Telangana Information
Technology Minister K T Rama Rao said to media.

"The seating capacity of the campus is
25,000. Currently, 12,000 employees are working there. They are planning to
inaugurate the campus formally in February, after the Greater Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections," Rao told reporters on the sidelines
of a programme at T-Hub.

Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, today visited the
T-Hub, a technological incubator set up here by Telangana government.

"(Vishal) Sikka has invited us to
inaugurate their largest campus at Pocharam in Hyderabad. We would request
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to unveil the IT policy of the state also at
that time," said Rao.

The upcoming Pocharam campus of the IT giant
would be spread over 447 acre, and built with a total investment of Rs 1,250
crore. The construction would be completed in three phases over a period of ten
years, a press release of the company had stated earlier.

The tie-up will help to integrate Biometric
Extended Depth-of-Field image capture (BEDoF) in the Iris recognition
technology for the Indian market, the company said in a statement.

"We are partnering with Infinity Optics who
are the leaders in the market. It is definitely a benefit for us as it has
helped us to upgrade the quality of our lenses which will eventually improve
the end-user experience," said Biomatiques CEO Tamaal Roy.

The
probability of duplication for voice recognition is 1 in 500, facial
recognition - 1 in 1,000, fingerprint - 1 in 10,000, Apple touch ID - 1 in
50,000 while, in iris recognition, it is 1 in 15,00,000.

Iris recognition uses random textures that are
visible in the eye, using the eye to confirm someone's identity.

Biomatiques claimed it is the only Indian
company to launch its latest range of products which are "ultimate in
terms of access and security."

ADATA Technology, a leading manufacturer of high
performance DRAM modules and NAND Flash storage application products and
accessories, today announced a new partnership with leading IT
distributor Compuage Infocom Ltd., pertaining to the complete ADATA power bank
portfolio. The move extends ADATA distribution range by adding Compuage as a
product provider, offering Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certified mobile
power banks to customers across India. ADATA and Compuage have been
successfully cooperating in the DRAM segment for several years.

With the growing demand for power banks and users
requiring solutions for smartphones, ADATA has been growing its presence in
India with fully-certified power banks and the partnership with Compuage is the
latest development in this campaign. Compuage brings to the relationship a wide
network of contacts and local partners, as well as a highly motivated and
proactive sales team. These will help ADATA products reach new customers in
more locations, benefitting ADATA, Compuage and consumers. ADATA and Compuage
anticipate rapid sales growth in 2016 as the partnership takes hold and product
distribution expands to cover more of the massive Indian mobile accessory
market.

Chris Chang, MD at ADATA
Technology India Pvt Ltd said "As part of our growth
strategy and expansion drive for 2016, we have partnered with Compuage Infocom,
leveraging excellent reach across India and best business practice
implementation to help ADATA gain larger market share in the power bank
segment. Our partnership with Compuage in DRAM modules has been very successful
for the last couple of years and the addition of power banks will further
strengthen our relationship. We believe our BIS certified high capacity power
banks can reach every part of India to provide more users total quality, ease
of use, and convenience".

Bhavesh Mehta, Business Director at Compuage
Infocom Ltd said "ADATA's expertise in peripheral memory
products for both high end and mainstream PCs, combined with the strong
IT-enabled distribution backbone of Compuage, will not only strengthen our
brands but will also help expand ADATA reach in additional cities as well as
propel growth momentum in India. Compuage is proud to work with ADATA, who have
been innovating and demonstrating business and technology foresight".

The power bank segment is one of the fastest growing
in India, and BIS certification is vital for any product in this dynamic market
environment. Customers are assured quality products thanks to strict ADATA
production standards and BIS certification. Since BIS certification is
mandatory in India for smartphones, batteries, power banks, and adapters,
brands are required to pass the certification process and buyers are advised to
only purchase certified products to ensure their personal safety and the proper
operation of mobile devices. Approved products bear the prestigious and
well-known ISI mark, which is synonymous with quality.

ADATA and Compuage look forward to further
strengthening their relationship in more product ranges. To create better ADATA
product awareness among channel partners, ADATA and Compuage have planned
several marketing initiatives, including roadshows, partner-site promotions,
channel advertisements, and participation in exhibitions and expos scheduled
across Indian localities in coming months.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

LeTv held its first Le Meetup with its super fans in Bangalore
recently. The meet witnessed a full house gathering of LeTV’s #Superfans,
bloggers, keen tech enthusiasts and influencers from the city who had an
exclusive hands-on experience of LeTV’s products even before sales kicked
off in India.

Le Meetup has been conceived and deftly implemented as an apt
platform to bring its Superfans and blogger community together and listen to
them speak and experience Le Future up-close. The enthusiastic participation
from #Superfans and bloggers made the event a lively, interactive exchange
rather than just a one-way communication. It turned out to be a great
opportunity to meet and chat with fellow #SuperFans, bloggers, LeTV staff and
take away LeTV super products.

The meetup had an exclusive Q&A session and allowed an open
dialogue between fans, bloggers, Youtubers, and Le staff. As the closing note,
Ivan Wang, Head, Digital Marketing said “ It has been a truly rewarding
experience interacting with our fans and followers. We recognize that they are
vital and hence we have ensured that our comment response rate is 98% and
response time is 3 three minutes. This is a new benchmark in the industry
and has been acknowledged by our fans in this very forum. Thank you all
for the overwhelming response, your feedback matters and we will very closely
consider them.Bangalore rocks ! he concluded.

LeTV shared its focus for India as a key market, which along
with the US is part of its expansion plan. It also said the company intends to
match the product launches in India with that of global launches. It revealed
that there is a preview event on Jan 5 where the company will make
more confirmed announcements on its big launch date. Le Meetups will be held in
multiple cities the next one will be held in Delhi on Dec 30and
January 9followed by one in Hyderabad.

India
could become the world’s third largest economy after 2030 and its ascension
could see France and Italy kicked out of the exclusive G8 group or its
membership increased to 10 to accommodate India and Brazil, according to a new
study.

According
to a report by the UK think tank Centre for Economics Business and Research
(CEBR), China will overtake the US as the largest economy in the world in 2029
with the US slipping to second place and India close behind at third.

India’s
projected GDP in 2030 was US$10,133 billion, behind America’s US$32,996 billion
and China at the top with a projected GDP of $34,338 billion.

However,
India will become the largest economy in the Commonwealth in 2019 when its
economy overtakes the British economy.

The
study also says that India is finally starting to catch up with China and will
eventually overtake the Communist-giant in the second half of the century.

Britain
will move up to take fourth spot and Brazil will complete the top five.

Europe’s
third and fourth largest economies will be replaced by India and Brazil in the
G8 over the next 15 years, the report says.

As
Brazil and India meet the political criteria for membership of the exclusive G8
club of developed democracies, their ascension could see France and Italy
kicked out of the group, or the club expanded to a G10 as more economies join,
the report says.

The UK
meanwhile is set to become the best performing economy in the western world
over the next 15 years, boosted by its leading position in global software and
IT sectors.

The
CEBR said France’s “dire” economic prospects will see it fall from the world’s
5th to 9th largest economy by 2030.

Italy —
currently 8th in the global league table — is also going through tough times.

Since
joining the euro in 2000, GDP growth has remained flat, making it the slowest
growing economy of any major developed nation.

Europe’s
largest economy, Germany, will maintain its position in the world’s leading
economies as its declining population receives a welcome boost of a 1.5 million
refugees and migrants, according to the analysis.

Friday, December 25, 2015

Business services companies Cognizant Technology Solutions, NTT
Data and Atos SE are competing to acquire Perot Systems, an IT management
business of Dell, according to people familiar with the matter.

Dell is
hoping Perot Systems will fetch more than $5 billion, helping it trim its debt
load following its agreement to acquire data storage company EMC for $66
billion, including debt, the people said this week. The merger with EMC is
scheduled to close by October 2016, subject to approval by EMC shareholders.

The
auction for Perot Systems, however, has taken longer than expected because the
offers Dell has received thus far have failed to meet its valuation
expectations, the people said. Dell is now reconsidering which contracts it
will pass on to Perot Systems to boost the sale process, one of the people
added. The
sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

Dell,
Cognizant, Japan-based NTT and Atos, of France, did not immediately respond to
requests for comment. Perot Systems is major provider of IT consulting to
hospitals and government departments. Founded in 1988 by former US presidential
candidate Ross Perot, it was acquired by Dell in 2009 for $3.9 billion.

While
that deal helped Dell diversify beyond its core personal computer business, the
company is now focused on making inroads in cloud computing, business software
and data management -- a key driver of its deal to acquire EMC. Dell has also
been speaking to private equity firms about selling Quest Software, which helps
with information technology management, as well as SonicWall, an e-mail
encryption and data security provider. Together, these assets could be worth
around $4 billion.

Last
week, Dell registered SecureWorks, its cybersecurity unit, with the US
Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO.

Dell has said its goal will be to reduce its debt load in the
first 18 to 24 months of its merger with EMC to achieve an investment-grade
rating. Dell will have $49.5 billion in debt under current plans to finance the
deal.

Agencies

Taxi
aggregator Ola has launched a new ‘Share’ feature on its app that will allow
its users in the city to share rides, making their travel cheaper.

The carpooling feature, which is still in the beta phase and
will be rolled out to select users in Bengaluru, will be made available across
5 cities over the next three months.

The service will be available for an introductory flat fare of
Rs 50, Ola said in a statement.

“Ola has introduced the concept of social groups on its app.
With groups, colleagues from a workplace and friends from a college can come
together to share rides amongst themselves.

“A user can join multiple groups or simply choose to share a
ride with anyone. As soon as a user requests a ‘Share’ ride on the Ola app,
they will be matched with other users from their groups along their way,” it
added.

Ola said most vehicles see only 33 per cent utilisation of
capacities. “With ‘Share’, we not only bring economy, convenience and
comfort of travelling with people in your circles, but also increased inventory
utilisation of vehicles on the platform.

Ola Share is a major step in the direction of sustainable
transportation, allowing Ola to serve more people at a fraction of the cost,
with driver-partners benefiting from increased revenue, he added.

A maximum of three people can share a cab together via Ola
Share. Driver-partners get an option to log into the Share platform, getting
instant access to increased revenue of up to 50 per cent, through continuous
fulfilment of booking requests, it said.

A user can join multiple groups or simply choose to share a ride
with anyone. Last month, Uber had announced the launch of UberPool, its
carpooling service in India. The service is available in beta in Bengaluru.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Avaya, a global leader in business communications software,
systems and services, highlighted today its commitment to India’s digital
transformation goals through the Avaya University Outreach Programme, a series
of initiatives with leading educational institutes in Pune. More than 70
graduating engineers today attended the first elective course at the Cummins
College of Engineering for Women, one of four colleges with which Avaya is
collaborating on the programme.

The Avaya curriculum is a one-semester elective course,
developed by Avaya in collaboration with the Colleges of Engineering. The
course covers key trends in emerging technologies and telecommunication,
including digital and IP telephony, VoIP protocols, unified communications and contact
center applications and provides new engineers with the skills to develop their
careers and further India’s digital transformation efforts. Avaya plans to make
the course available to other educational institutions and colleges in Pune and
across the nation.

India is driving digital transformation efforts to boost
economic growth and provide access to digital services, knowledge and
information for all citizens. Avaya is working with four colleges in Pune - to
help develop training in key technologies and help deliver the skilled
workforce India requires.

The Avaya University Outreach Programme consists of four key
elements--- Avaya curriculum, Technology exchange program for Faculty, Avaya
Champs and Technology enablement for students.

India is at the heart of Avaya’s innovation focus and represents
the company’s largest R&D center globally, spread across Pune, Bangalore
and Hyderabad, providing more than 30% of product & solution development
globally. Avaya’s India R&D centers comprise talented engineers,
researchers and product management staff, with more than 2,200 employees along
with a state-of-the-art research and engineering lab and infrastructure with
Data Networking and Unified Communications being the primary focus areas.

Quotes:

“This programme is aimed at helping to transform the educational
curriculum and developing the skilled workforce that will drive India’s digital
transformation goals. We are very proud to be associated with the leading
engineering institutes in Pune and in helping today’s students meet the
evolving needs of industry. Following the success of our efforts in Pune, we
are planning to implement other such outreach programs in other cities and to
continue our efforts in supporting India’s digitization.”

Vijay Mhaskar, Senior Director, Pune R&D at Avaya India

“The engineers that we are supporting today will be the
engineers that drive innovation in India tomorrow. The Avaya University
Outreach programme demonstrates our commitment to India’s digital
transformation and showcases the central role that India’s talented workforce
plays in Avaya’s own innovation efforts. Communication is at the center of
almost all industries and this course enables students with latest
communication technologies and it will ensure the next generation engineers
make digital transformation successful”

“With the rapid changes in the telecom Industry, it is
imperative our students are updated and employable from day one. Therefore
we are excited about this initiative between global leader in communications
Avaya and Cummins College of Engineering for Women’ to offer an academic course
namely “Unified communications and contact center applications” to augment our
students with latest cutting edge technologies. I am sure our
collaboration with Avaya will increase in years to come and help students to
enhance their employability.”

Meizu Technology (MEIZU) has
announced the launch of its#MerrywithMeizuonline contests for its Indian fans on Facebook & Twitter.

To bring the festivity
alive, Meizu has organized three different contests, one for each day, starting
from, 21stDecember.
Yesterday, it was create your own Christmas tree contest and today, Meizu fans
can win two Meizu m2’s and 12 goodie bags by sharing two good deeds which they
might have done in 2015.

You can share your complete
story on Meizu India Facebook and Twitter page with #MerrywithMeizu. Contest is
valid only for today,Tuesday,
December, 22, 2015.

Meizu m2
has been acknowledged and appreciated as one of the most budget friendly
smartphones of 2015.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

A changing world dynamic
has caused an increasing need for NATO to have best-in-class business
communication solutions for its new Brussels, Belgium headquarters that are
both easy to use and always connected. Building on a relationship that has
lasted more than six years, Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) announced this week that it
has been selected by NATO to be the primary unified communications provider of
the organisation’s Active Network Infrastructure (ANWI) project within its
extensive high-tech new headquarters located in Brussels, Belgium.

As part of NATO’s “new
ways of working” business capability designed to modernise virtual
collaboration across multiple networks, the Polycom RealPresence Platform
will represent the first hybrid Video Collaboration (VTC), Voice and Data
deployment by NATO. This implementation will extend NATO’s reach to
employees, military commands and deployed units, taking this far beyond the
traditional and capability to secure collaborative communications no matter
what the condition or location is. Polycom will play an important role in the
ANWI project, building a viable UC&C service that can be widely used across
the NATO organisation to support decision making, collaboration and
coordination.

“We see Polycom as a
great relationship,” said Steven Janis, Project Manager of the new NATO
Headquarters. “There is a great importance to us in the way Polycom integrates
smoothly with other communications platforms, such as Microsoft, and the
ins-and-outs of the nucleus of our UC&C platforms which help take our
communications into the next century.”

In addition to the
RealPresence Platform solution being deployed throughout NATO’s networks,
Polycom will also equip the facility with 2,500 of its industry-leading
Polycom VVX business media voice end points for use with Skype For
Business. This new infrastructure and operations is all about return on
investment, saving resources, expanding applications and maintaining advantages
for NATO. While the initial deployment at NATO’s new headquarters will be
focused on generalised services, the Polycom RealPresence Platform offers the
scalability to increase to a more comprehensive UCC infrastructure that will
help power the organisation’s “new ways of working” approach.

“Polycom is honoured to
have been selected to partner with NATO to outfit its new headquarters in
Brussels with industry-leading unified communications and collaboration
technology,” said Sean Berg, Vice President, Public Sector at Polycom.
“Communications are integral to any organisation. However it plays an
absolutely essential role in not only NATO’s initiatives, but the security and
well-being of millions of citizens around the world. Polycom is proud to play a
critical role in providing a superior user experience while ensuring NATO’s
communication is never compromised.”